(Recent cover of Princess Anne Independents News )

(Recent cover of Princess Anne Independents News )

By Jeff Maisey

 

You may have noticed lately a growing number of sources dedicated exclusively to community news coverage for Virginia Beach.

Challenging the daily newspaper – The Virginian-Pilot – for the eyes and minds of Beach residents are Southside Daily, the Virginia Beach Sun and Princess Anne Independent News.

The freely distributed Princess Anne Independent News debuted on April 24 as an every-two-week newsprint tabloid focused on news in the Pungo section of Virginia Beach as well as the areas of Sandbridge, Red Mill, the Courthouse, Creeds, Landstown and Knotts Island (NC). It also maintains an active website and social media presence.

The publisher is John-Henry Doucette, a former reporter and columnist of The Virginian-Pilot. Doucette wears most of the hats at PAIN. Like most independent publishers and journalists, he is driven by his passion.

“I launched, in part, because I love newspapers and the print form and community journalism as a force for civic engagement and connection,” said Doucette. “I’ve spoken informally with friends about doing this for years. There was an opportunity. I was in a position to do it here, and my market research showed there was demand for very local journalism. As a Pungo resident, reading the “Princess Anne” version of The Beacon didn’t really tell me much about where I actually live. It’s just an ad zone. I like aspects about The Beacon, but it didn’t always contain content local to our area. The response to our paper makes me think I’m not alone in feeling that way.”

The Beacon is The Pilot’s tabloid inserted weekly in the zip codes of Virginia Beach. The Pilot also produces a tab for Suffolk, Portsmouth, Norfolk and Chesapeake.

Since 2007, Landmark Media, which owns Pilot Media Companies, has been selling off many of its community newspapers nationwide. As has been the case with all daily newspapers, management has been compelled to make deep cuts in staff to maintain acceptable levels of profitability. The economic reality and the trend of breaking news online has created holes in local news coverage, something hyper-local community news sources seem willing to fill.

“It is clear to any longtime readers of The Pilot that its news coverage is diminished from what it was,” said Dave Forster, managing editor of the online-only Southside Daily. “The owners have dramatically reduced the size of its news staff over the past decade while reducing the number and size of its pages and sections. They have fewer reporters covering local news. We bring another newsroom into the local market. We have the benefit of focusing on a smaller, but still substantial audience, rather than having to divert staff time to seven cities, plus state and national news.

“We have a slightly smaller news staff covering Virginia Beach than The Pilot, but the difference is surprisingly small given The Pilot is in its 150th year and we are in our third month. And even with that slightly smaller staff, we are giving readers a lot — including a lot that otherwise isn’t getting reported, or isn’t getting reported until after it shows up on Southside Daily — and best of all for our audience, we don’t charge people to read us. We don’t need to use a paywall or charge for subscriptions because our costs are so much lower with no printed paper to support. We can succeed on local advertising alone.

“We also offer free obituaries, since we don’t feel it’s right to treat the last story of a person’s life like an ad, and we don’t run editorials.”

Like Doucette, Forster is a former employee of The Virginian-Pilot. Because of that both journalists bring instant credibility to their new organization.

Southside Daily is owned and operated by Local Voice, which operates radio station 102.1 FM The Tide. One of the station’s owners is Grammy Award-winning pop artist and Williamsburg resident Bruce Hornsby.

To promote its Southside Daily news site, promotional ads are run frequently on The Tide. And that is a competitive advantage.

“Listeners can hear about what we’re up to in the pages of Southside Daily, then go online whenever and wherever they are to read more,” said Forster.

Southside Daily views The Virginian-Pilot as its main completion. SD’s coverage focuses on city hall, schools and high school sports. In between they are covering local business, transportation, arts/entertainment, and general feature stories.

“Readers will see a noticeable lack of jailhouse mugshots and the crime-of-the-day stories,” Forster said. “That stuff gets plenty of attention already from TV news and The Pilot, and there was a conscious decision early on here to focus on our other beats.”

Southside Daily will add a fourth reporter starting in January to focus on business. A public safety reporter will be hired after that.

Forster and Doucette are well acquainted and thus far have not butted heads.

“The Princess Anne Independent writes about a smaller area than we do, but our coverage areas do overlap there,” said Forster. “Its publisher, John Doucette, is a friend and was actually the “buddy/mentor” I was set up with at The Pilot when I was hired and he was there.”

“I have a good, in-passing relationship with Southside Daily, I think, but I don’t exactly feel that we compete,” said Doucette. “Our website is meant to share stuff after it has appeared in print, unless something is especially timely. I like the potential for Southside Daily, and I really think the world of Dave. He’s the real deal. I like some of the work they’ve done so far, but stay the fuck out of Pungo, Dave.”

Neither Doucette or Forster view the Virginia Beach Sun as competition. Both note the monthly’s “news” as soft journalism. Sun publisher/editor Greg Goldfarb is less combative.

“In general, I will say that most of the local publications in Hampton Roads are just trying to serve, inform and educate their audiences,” Goldfarb said. “The more voices a community hear, the more options they have, probably the better off that community will be.”

So what does The Virginian-Pilot think of all this?

“The Pilot prides itself on being the top source for news to the residents of Virginia Beach,” said recently hired editor Steve Gunn. “We compete every day to make sure we remain the top place to come for news and information and will continue to do so. If you look back at the big stories in Virginia Beach in recent years, I think you’d find the Pilot sparked them.”

Doucette and Forster, however, maintain that they are uncovering news in Virginia Beach overlooked by The Pilot. Drawing a distinction between Princess Anne Independent News and Southside Daily’s approach, Doucette said, “My job is not to match The Pilot story for story. My concern about Southside Daily is that they seem to be doing a bit much of that. They’re not giving me a reason to dump The Pilot when they read like an online version of an existing newspaper or the online version of some TV news station.”

But Forster is convinced Southside Daily is having an impact.

“I heard rumblings upon my departure that management there (The Pilot) was concerned about Southside Daily. I think we’re very much on their radar and watched closely for our content.